Apple has launched the new iPad Pro at its October event alongside the MacBook Air and Mac Mini. The device sees a whole new design and a bunch of new features to mark a new generation iPad Pro that is arguably Apple’s best iPad to date.

Apple has adopted the design that was first introduced in the iPhone X by reducing the bezels of the device to maximize the screen size. The iPad Pro has the same LCD Liquid Retina display that is found on the iPhone XR. Reducing the bezels on the iPad Pro meant that there was no longer space for the Home button, which saw the move towards FaceID on the new iPad Pro. FaceID uses facial recognition technology to provide a security mechanism to secure your device, which replaces the standard fingerprint sensor implementation. To facilitate the removal of the home button, the iPad Pro now utilizes the gesture controls in iOS 12 that are seen in the new iPhones’.

11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro

The new iPad Pro sees two models launched in New York today, an 11-inch model and a 12.9-inch model. The reduction of the bezels means that the new 11-inch model, despite having a bigger screen, fits into the same physical dimensional footprint as the previous 10.5-inch model. The 12.9-inch is also substantially smaller than its predecessor and is comparable to the size of an A4 piece of paper. The iPad Pro still retains very small bezels to ensure that you’ll still be able to hold it while consuming media – removing the bezels entirely just wouldn’t work on a tablet.

In addition to a physical redesign, Apple also announced a new Apple Pencil complete with gesture controls for shortcuts in supported apps such as changing pen type in Notes. The Apple Pencil now has a flat side to stop it rolling off the table and also has a new magnetic charging mechanism that can be used to secure the pen to the iPad Pro. It’s worth noting that it’s only compatible with the new iPad Pro and older generation Apple Pencils won’t work with the new models either.

The most powerful iPad Pro yet

It’s not just the physical design and accessories that saw changes in the latest generation of iPad Pro, the insides of the tablet also got a spec bump. The new iPad Pro models use the new A12X Bionic Chip, which is the same chip found in the latest iPhone devices. This means the iPad inherits a ton of features that the A12X brings thanks to its neural engine and on-the-fly encryption mechanisms.

Both the iPad Pro 11-inch and 12.9-inch variants will be sold in 64GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options but be prepared to pay for it! The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 (roughly Rs. 58,800) in the US, while the 12.9-inch variant gets a starting price of $999 (around Rs. 73,500). In India, the prices don’t translate exactly so the 11-inch iPad Pro will start at Rs. 71,900, while the bigger model will retail starting at Rs. 89,900. The iPad Pro pre-orders in the US starting today (and 40 other countries and regions), on October 30, and will begin shipping from November 7. India is unfortunately not on the list of initial countries to get the iPad Pro but Apple has said it will launch the tablets in the country “later this year”.

Our resident Brit, Dan loves to write about anything tech, and has been doing so for a long time, with a personal interest for all things Android. Dan has been associated with some of the tech publications like AndroidAuthority. He loves exploring new gadgets and sharing industry insights on MySmartPrice.